Indian Premier League

What is the IPL?
The IPL stands for the Indian Premier League and is the professional cricket league in India. This tournament takes place over two months. Eight teams are representing various cities of India with a game every day. Teams play each other twice before the top 4 teams progress into the playoffs. The teams consist of Indian and foreign players with a cap of 4 foreign players per team. Players are selected through an auction at the start of the season and one could write a full article about the fascinating auction process itself. It is an occasion where the teams try to get the right balance between best players, budgets and team composition. This entertaining competition started in 2008 when the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI ) founded it and it has gone from strength to strength from there. 

There are a total of 60 games and the format of the tournament is that each team plays each other twice and after that happens top 4 teams progress into the playoffs. 1st and 2nd play to see who goes to the finals, the loser though has another chance and will play the winner of the third and fourth. Now, 2nd and 3rd will play and the winner of that will play in the finals. Winners of the finals are the Champions of the Indian Premier League. Now in each game, both teams have 20 overs to bat each. A bowler can bowl a maximum of 4 overs which is six balls. The last champions were the Mumbai Indians. 

Money 
Money is now an important aspect of the game. Before the season starts there is an auction. Each team can retain two players from the last season and has to give away the rest. Then you have a group of players who are willing to play this year and players could also be from last season. You build your team again and the team with more money can buy better players. This shows how important money is in the IPL.